Door-hanger.



Patented Feb. 20, I900. G. P. JONES. DOOR HANGER.

(Application filed. Apr. 19, 1899.)

alylglzglgl (No Model.)

NITED STATE-s ATENT Fries.

GRAHAM P. JONES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE JONES CAR DOORCOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DOOR-HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,654, dated February20, 1900.

Application filed April 19, 1899- 1'0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRAHAM P. JONES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chi cage, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Sliding-Door Hangers;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

The invention relates to sliding-door hangers, and especially to thatclass of hangers adapted for association with doors which are raised andlowered to and from their sliding or operative position by means ofsuitable mechanism provided for that purpose. Heretofore in this classof sliding doors great difficulty has been experienced in preventingthehangers from becoming displaced or raised off of the rail.

One of the objects of my present invention is to provide certainimprovements in hangers adapted for this class of doors whereby thehanger cannot be raised off or displaced from the rail with which it isassociated. Also in applying the old form of hanger it was necessary forthe operator in assembling the parts to carefully measure and adjust thesame with reference to the distance between the top of the door and thetop of the rail in order that the required amount of play or movementshould be provided. It was necessary to employ a strip equal in width tothis dis tance from the top of the door to the top of the rail and by itadjust the hangers on the door so that the eyes or bolt-holes in theupper ends of the hangers, to which the lifting and lowering levers arefastened, should come in proper relation to the rail.

Another object of my invention is to pro vide certain improvements inhangers whereby the proper assemblage of parts is assured without anymeasurement or calculation and without the employment of any additionalmeans. Also in doors havingalateral movement in order to clear a closingstrip or cleat when slid back and forth the wedge or incline which isemployed in certain forms of this class of doors to move the doorlaterally opedge to coact with the wedge.

Serial No. 713,676. (No model.)

crates directly upon the inner face of the door itself, which is usuallybeveled at its upper In this type the door rapidly became worn at itspoint of contact with the wedge, in some cases to such a degree that therequired amount of lateral movement was not obtained.

A further object of my invention is to provide certain improvements inhangers adapted for doors of this class whereby the hanger is providedwith a. wiper or rubbing-face which coacts with the Wedge or incline.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from thespecification.

To obtain these various objects and results, my invention consists inthe construction and arrangement of the hangers, as hereinafter shownand described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

The invention may be applied to any form of sliding door which isarranged to travel upon a track, but is more particularlyapplicable tothe doors of freight-cars, and for the purpose of illustration I haveshown it in the drawings applied to a door of this type.

In the drawings accompanying this specification and forming a partthereof, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car-door embodying myimprovements. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the doorway, on an enlargedscale, the door and its hangers being in position in which they areshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View showing the positionof the parts when the door is raised to its operative or slidingposition; and Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of the side and rear face,respectively, of the hanger.

In the drawings the reference-letter A indicates the side of a car, Athe car-door, and A the top rail, adapted to receive the sheaves a,which support the door when it is raised to its operative position andupon which it slides back and forth to cover and uncover thedoor-opening.

The reference-letter a represents a cambracket secured to the side ofthe car on the run side of the door-opening near its lower right-handcorner and having an inclined inner face by which the door is forcedlaterally against the side of the car when the door is at rest. Asupporting-bracket a is arranged on the opposite side of thedoor-opening and may or may not be similar to the cam-bracket a Thesebrackets in part sustain the weight of the door when the latter islowered into its closed or inoperative position.

The sheaves or wheels a are journaled in raising and lowering levers a athe outer ends of which are pivoted to the hangers B and B,respectively, which in turn are secured to the upper corners of thedoor, as shown in Fig. 1, and extend over the rail, as shown in Figs. 2and 3. The inner ends of the levers are slotted and are connected by abolt, which passes through these slots, to an operating-rod B as shownin Fig. 1, which extends downwardly through suitable guides andterminates in any convenient form of handle. Any suitable stop may beprovided to prevent excessive downward movement of the operating-rod toprevent the raising and lowering levers from binding on the top rail.

The hangers, as shown in the detail views in Figs. 4E and 5, consist ofmetallic straps or castings having suitable holes in their bodyportions 1) to receive suitable bolts for securing them to the door. Theupper portion b of each hanger overhangs or extends inwardly over thetop rail and is provided with an incline or cam b which serves to forceor carry the door obliquely and snugly against the side of the car orthe door-jambs when it is lowered and allow it to move out of contacttherewith when it is raised. The overhanging portion forms a seat orrest which bears upon the rail when the door is lowered to sustain thelatter in conjunction with the brackets a and (L The upper portion 11 ofeach hanger is provided with an eye Z) to receive a bolt for attachingits associated raising and lowering lever.

The door normally rests upon the cam-hangers and upon one or both of thebrackets, according as itisin position over the door-opening or to oneside thereof, the raising and lowering levers a a then being in theposition indicated in Fig. 1 and the weight of the door being off thesheaves a a. When it is desired to move the door laterally, the operatorpulls down on the handle of the operating-rod and raises the door bymeans of the raising and lowering levers, the journals of the sheavesserving as fulcrums. In this position the door is raised from its seatin the brackets a a and the overhanging portions of the hangers andrests upon the sheaves a a, by which it may be slid back and forth, asshown in Fig. 3.

The inner face of each of the hangers B B is provided with a stop device11*, which is preferably in the form of a lateral web or flange andwhich is preferably cast integral with the same, though it is apparentthat it may be separate therefrom and attached in any suitable manner.The web is located at approximately the top of the body portion 1) ofthe hanger, where the latter begins to curve outwardly to form theoverhanging portion b It-is made substantially the width of the top ofthe door, and its location on the hanger is such that it comes incontact with the under side of the rail before the hanger can be raisedfar enough to allow the inner end of its overhanging portion to bedisplaced from its proper position with relation to the rail. Therelation of the web and overhanging portion of the hanger is such thatthe former contacts with the under side of the rail before the latter israised high enough to pass over the top of the rail. In this manner thehanger cannot be raised off the rail or become displaced.

In the operation of the device the stop mechanism associated with theoperating-rod B will normally prevent the door from rising so far thatthe webs of the hangers will contact with the rail, so that the latterdo not under normal conditions in any manner interfere with themovements of the door. It often happens, however, that in closing thedoor the operator pushes upon one end of it and causes it to tiltupward, in which case the hangers become displaced unless provided withsome suitable device, such as the web or stop above described. Vith thisconstruction the accidental displacement of the door is renderedimpossible.

In certain types of doors it is desirable to provide a wedge or incline,such as D, at the upper right-hand corner of the door-opening, by whichthe dooris moved laterally or away from the side of the car as it israised. This construction isused where a closing strip or cleat d isattached the run side of the dooropening to make a dust-proof closure.This wedge is placed at the upper right-hand corner of the door-openingin the path of the top of the door, so that the latter is forcedlaterally away from the car sutiiciently to clear the cleat when itisraised. Heretofore in employing this device the door itself came incontact with the wedge and in course of time became worn, so that insome cases it did not receive the amount of lateral movement required toclear the cleat. By providing the hanger with a .web extending acrossthe top of the door to web itself comes in contact with the wedge orincline C, thus forming a wiper or rubbin g-face to coact with thewedge. The face of the web is preferably beveled, as at Z2 to correspondwith the incline of the wedge in order to work more smoothly andsatisfactorily.

The web or flange of the hanger enables the operator in assemblingtheparts to fix the distance between the top of the door and the top ofthe rail, which it is necessary to accurately adjust, without the use ofany measurement or calculation or additional means, as before pointedout. The amount of play or movement in doors of this character is so IIOsmall that this adjustment must be made within a very small fraction ofan inch. By providing the hanger with a web which is arranged in suchrelation to the other parts that the correct adjustment shall beobtained by merely placing the web on the top of the door the hanger isadjusted in proper position to provide the required play and isnecessarily placed in the required vertical position and so retained,the assembling of the parts is rendered easier and absolutely accurate,and the entire construction is simplified. and improved.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure byLetters Patent is 1. A hanger for sliding doors comprising a body, anoverhanging portion forming a seat and provided with an eye forattachment of its operating-lever and with an incline upon its innerend, and a lateral web of substantially the width of the door providedon its inner end with an incline, the distance between the web and thebase of the incline of the overhanging portion being less than the widthof the track to which said hanger is adapted.

2. The combination, with a sliding door, levers provided withsheaves, atrack upon which said sheaves run, an operating device for said levers,of hangers in which the levers are pivoted, an incline for forcing saiddoor laterally when raised and a web on one of the hangers coaoting withsaid incline, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a sliding door, a track from which said door issuspended when operated, sheaves running 011 the track, levers in whichthe sheaves are journaled and by which the door is raised and lowered,of hangers in which the levers are pivoted, inclines for carrying saiddoor inwardly when lowered and outwardly when raised, and a web on oneof the hangers providing a wiper for said latter incline, substantiallyas described.

4. The combination, with a sliding door, a track from which said door issuspended when operated, raising and lowering levers carrying sheaves onwhich the door is slid, of camhangers in which the levers are pivoted,one of said hangers having a lateral web, and an incline or wedge in thepath of the web, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GRAHAM P. JONES.

WVitnesses:

G. J. M. PORTER, BELDER D. J ONES.

